If you're going to make an idiot of yourself, do it properly.

There are times when it pays to be careful. For instance, when riding a brand-new motorcycle on stage in front of a big crowd at the Sturgis show.

Motorcycle designer and racer Roland Sands was given the honor/responsibility of riding a new Indian FTR750 ‘Super Hooligan’ on-stage in front of a large crowd at Sturgis earlier this month. As any self-respecting racer would, he rides up with the engine revving hard, but seems to forget that the ‘FTR’ bit of the bike’s name stands for ‘Flat Track Racer’. The bike, therefore, has no front brakes.

With too much speed and not enough stopping power, there’s only way it’s going to end and, sure enough, both bike and rider nosedive off the stage. Unfortunately, two people were hurt, though not seriously. Indian refuted early suggestions there was some sort of malfunction, chalking the crash up to simple rider error.

After the incident, Sands wrote in an Instagram post: “When things go south as they did Sunday night I can now look back and be thankful, by the grace of god everyone is ok. There was no burnout or stunt involved in the incident. I have raced this bike for the past year and know it well. Simply put, it was an accident.

"My sincerest apologies to those involved, I can deal with the embarrassment and hurting myself, but when other people are involved it weighs heavily on my heart.”

It's one of those things that could have happened to anyone, but in this case that someone probably should have known better. Good on Sands for holding his hands up and admitting to his mistake.

Respected car racer Alain de Cadanet had a similar incident on the Mille Miglia a few years ago, when the Ferrari he was driving failed to stop in time on a finish ramp, taking out the platform the announcer and some other people were stood on.